The Procession of Locor

(rules presented below the Procession-image; all player-characters in the city of Cothon must roll on the second table; participating in this Procession does not preclude pursuing one's own downtime during this same week, ending 7/3, so one can both participate and also pursue your own goals)

In gilded Gadeed, Mother of Cities, the auspices for the Procession of Locor have been consulted, and this week has been set for that great festival, according to the signs of the Fortress Moon. Preparations for the Procession have been underway for some weeks as anticipation built in both of the Dual-Cities, as Cothon's harbor will of course receive the idol of the Hero, to be washed there in the purifying waters of Dirac's Sea.

On the day of the Procession, the women of Banu Turan-Aqsu, the house that provides priests and priestesses for the Heroön, will veil the idol behind dark shrouds, take the robes of the last year from the idol, and place both idol and robes into his ship, by which he will be carried over the streets. In the predawn, those groups most closely associated with Locor--certain houses, families, and Guilds, but also including an escort from the Confraternity of 'Issa the Baptist--will gather in the temenos of heroes. At dawn, a call from a high tower in the temenos will announce the start of the procession, and with clash of timbrels to announce their coming, the various groups will escort the idol in its ship, carried by the arms of strong slaves, unto the Processional Way between the Long Walls, and thence through Cothon to the harbor.

All along the way, onlookers will scatter the grey tetel flowers that are beloved by Locor, while those escorting the idol will sprinkle seawater along the road before the idol, seawater that is replenished by runners--young men of promise, proving their vigor by hauling empty pithoi down to the harbor to refill them, and thence carrying the filled and sloshing jars back to the procession to replenish their seawater. The streets and buildings of the Way, in both Gadeed and Cothon, will all also be hung with banners of blue, silver, and grey, the favored colors of the Hero.

Once the procession has reached the harbor--in an area already designated and set aside for the washing and the following sacrifices--the idol will be carried out into the waters of the harbor and bathed there by the same Turan-Aqsu women. The new robes too, dedicated by noble houses of vested interest, will also be purified in the salt-sea; and as the great red sun tilts west, and all is purified, then will the priests of Locor burn the vestments of the past year as kindling for the bonfire of the sacrifice. Hmela will be led into the makeshift temenos at the harbor, slaughtered there, and roasted in a public liturgy and feast, their meat given out to the worshippers present, while wine is poured into the sea for Locor, and drunk in abundance by all present.

Those in the city may wish to partake directly in this festival. As with previous such affairs, the easiest way to participate is by spending a bit of coin to dress appropriately, and then joining the Procession as it enters Cothon (the city of Gadeed, of course, being barred to the entry of non-citizens and barbarians without invite!).

The following table indicates different levels of spending and participation in which one may indulge (but the options are not limited to those on the table; so long as one spends gold and describes its expenditure in consonance with the tenor of the festival, it will be considered well-spent, i.e. feel free to develop other ways to participate):

Gold Spent ...	… preparing for the Procession
10 dinars (gp)	purchase bundle of tetel flowers to scatter along the road
25 dinars	this is the price for those who wish to carry seawater for the procession
50 dinars	have a handsome blue (Locor's color)  cloak of fine cotton tailored
100 dinars	buy a helm or headdress in the form of a murex-shell, the eyed-prow  of a galley, a crested dolphin, etc. to go with your cloak
200 dinars	procure a cloak embroidered with tetel flowers and waves, and clasped  with silver fish-hooks, as well as providing a hmela for the liturgy

Money spent on preparations affects the character's roll on the next table (below)--spending at least 25 gold and up to 150 gold will provide a +1 bonus to the second roll, while spending beyond that will provide a +2 bonus to the second roll.

This second table? Unfortunately, early apprehensions about the atmosphere around the Procession have proven true, and even as the sacrifices had been completed and the feasting was well under way, a large group of veiled men (and women?) began moving through the streets around the harbor, intimidating, beating, and robbing drunk festival-goers and bystanders alike, lighting fires in the smaller taverns along the quays. In the violence it was noted that many of them wielded boathooks like those the Guild of Longshoremen use to help guide ships to their berths along the quays, leading to initial consternation that the Longshoremen were acting out against certain of the families among the festival with ties to the businesses attempting to send "scab" laborers to collect their goods directly without paying the middlemen of the Guild ... (near the bottom of this post is the first rumor of the Longshoremen's discontent)

But in the confusion and violence of the riots lasting through the night--until finally quelled by quickly-summoned retinues of soldiers from Long Walls and elsewhere--the great warehouses of the harbor, where the goods and freight broken down by the Longshoremen are stored, were also found to have been burned and looted, casting even more confusion over the violence of the night.

Who really attacked whom? And was the arson and looting motivated, or oppurtunistic?

While such questions are fodder for the great houses and tribes, the Four Taverns, the guilds, and other such political actors, on a more personal side, every player-character in the city of Cothon must roll on the table below, regardless of whether they took part in the Procession, in order to see how they were affected by the riots. Remember that spending gold up to the thresholds noted above will grant certain bonuses to this roll of 2d4:

2d4 Result	In the riot, your character was ...
2	not attending the festival, and surprised by the outbreak of violence;  in the confusion the character either lost or was robbed of 1d6 x 50 gold
3	roughed up or otherwise injured, whether by someone, or in the crush  of the crowd; the character starts their next expedition minus 2-7 hp  (but this injury can't bring them below 1 hp)
4	caught up in a brawl or at the scene of arson or looting; the character  starts their next expedition minus 1-6 hp, and must save v. petrification  or be suspected of participation (perhaps truthfully?)
5	able to escape the violence in a panga with others, and watched the  fires and riot from the harbor-waters, no worse for wear
6	accompanied by friends, and there is strength in numbers--in a scuffle  with rioters the character either (your choice) (1) defeated 1d6 ruffians,  worth 50 xp each, OR (2) gained the respect of an acquaintance they were  with, creating a new relationship
7	wary of the tension in the air, and able to sneak out of the harbor  early, plus a bottle of wine worth 25 gp (or other sweet-meat of like value)
8+	in the company of someone of some rank, and so earned their regard  by the character's assistance; either (1) increase your relationship with  someone already known, OR (2) roll to see the new acquaintance's rank  (on a d6, 1-3 is a citizen, 4-5 is a minor noble, 6 is someone of a major  house or tribe

By way of example, the referee's (surviving) character, Najm, who is associated with the Confraternity of 'Issa, and therefore looking forward to finally seeing the great Procession, decides to spend 125 gold, both to have a cloak tailored for him to wear in the Procession, and additionally for the honor of carrying the refilled pithoi of seawater to the Processors. For the cloak, he takes the golden sahulen-plumes he purchased from Han the merchant, and has them sewn on as trim to a handsome blue cotton cloak, clasped at his shoulder with a silver brooch shaped as a snakelike ninnenyelu fish.

Rolling on the second table to see what happened to him when the rioting broke out, I rolled a 4 and 4, +1, for an 8+ result. Najm was in the company of Bassil, a merchant with whom he has a little acquaintance. Najm assisted Bassil and the crew and/or friends with the merchant in escaping quickly out to the merchant's ship, where Bassil no-doubt poured some wine to regale his friends with far-fetched tales of his own heroism, at which certain eyes rolled. Nevertheless, the experience of the night has strengthened their bond, and the two are now more than mere acquaintances.

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Below is a list of the names of characters known currently to be in Cothon. Please reply to this post, or email me, or send me a message to let me know how your character spends their gold, if any, and what the result of the "riot roll" is. I'll cross names off as I receive the info:

Najm
Avin
Sesel
Lars
Durham
Dehuhada
June
Arngeir
Stavros
Meathead
Persephone
Heijo
Razo
Gan (the original, not the "bearer")
Torkol